Day: December 5, 2013

We don’t need another example of how desperately partisan Capitol Hill has become. We really don’t. But this week, even when the most futile and least popular Congress in American memory swerved off-script and managed to do something legitimately interesting, it all went in the ditch. And folks, this is a big reason scientists are reluctant to subject edgy new ideas to scrutiny from the Beltway hacks.

Wouldn’t it be great if these auditioning lobbyists all just shut up and scrubbed toilets like everyone else?/CREDIT: cnn.com

The occasion was Wednesday’s House Science Committee hearing, called “Astrobiology: The Search for Biosignatures in Our Solar System and Beyond” and chaired by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Tex. Truthfully, it wasn’t all that edgy, either. Not anymore. Considering the Exoplanet Data Explorer has confirmed the existence of 755 planets outside our solar system, with another 3,470 Kepler-identified candidates awaiting analysis, this one was actually a no-brainer. Especially given the fact that just one day before panelists convened, Hubble Space Telescope researchers announced the discovery of five exoplanets that emit “a very clear signal” for water.

Two astrobiologists and one planetary physics professor — NASA’s Mary Voytek, historian Steven Dick of the Library of Congress, and MIT’s Sara Seager — spent 90 minutes lobbying for more investment in technology capable of detecting “biosignatures” from distant planets. Since these sorts of looking-beyond-the-obvious discussions don’t happen all that often around here, congressional sponsors quite naturally had to initiate them with a little levity. As Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Tex., asked, “Do you think there’s life out there, and are they studying us? And what do they think about New York City?”

Ha. Good one. Check.

But seriously, OK, all joking aside, just to reassure her Republican audience The Great Taboo was off the table, Seager felt compelled to spell it out: “[Astrobiology] is a legitimate science now. We’re not looking for aliens or searching for UFOs.”

Whew! Got it. Check.

That said, the hearing moved along smoothly without a lot of people saying stupid things, according to reports. But afterwards, backstage, things reverted to form. This time it came from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which accused Republicans of wasting time on “space aliens” instead of doing immigration reform and minimum wages.

From DCCC national press secretary Emily Bittner: “No wonder the American people think this Republican Congress is from another planet — they’re more interested in life in space than American lives. Saying this Republican Congress has misplaced priorities is an understatement of galactic proportions.”

With cliches like that, Bittner could land a job as Weekend UFO Reporter for any number of secondary-market network affiliates. Bittner manufactured her disingenuous outrage over the idea that the obstructionist 113th Congress held “space alien” hearings with just a week left before Christmas recess. As if, you know, these anarchists had any intention at all of accomplishing anything between now and then. Please, lady — put a cork in it. Nevertheless, Huffington Post’s headline writers took the bait and went with “Spacing Out: House Holds Hearing on Aliens As Session Dwindles.”

Good god. The “Astrobiology” panelists didn’t even remotely wander into radical terrain. Anyone care to guess what would’ve happened if one of the House members had asked Steven Dick to elaborate on his published theory of “post-biological” ET robotic probes reconnoitering the universe? It wouldn’t matter which party controlled the floor. By time the opposition and the media were done, nobody who listened to it would have any brains left, man.